McCullom lifts San Diego to win over Columbia Hickman

With its 6-foot-10 sophomore Jeremy Tyler playing with four fouls much of the second half, the San Diego Cavers turned to the sharp-shooting Patrick McCullom.

Rick Rogers

With its 6-foot-10 sophomore Jeremy Tyler playing with four fouls much of the second half, the San Diego Cavers turned to the sharp-shooting Patrick McCullom.

McCullom scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to help San Diego avoid another upset in the Neosho Holiday Basketball Tournament with a 65-59 victory over Columbia Hickman Thursday night in the last game of the evening.

San Diego, now 2-0 in the tournament and 4-1 on the season, advances to face Grandview in the tournament semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Grandview advanced with an 84-74 victory over Siloam Springs.

Columbia Hickman hung with San Diego for much of the first half, and went on a 12-2 scoring in the half’s final three minutes to finally regain the lead at 39-37.

The Kewpies took the halftime lead after John Reese hit a jumper, and then Ben Dierkes hit one of his three 3-pointers with 32 seconds left to gain the two-point advantage.

Hickman started the second half strong, scoring seven unanswered points led by five points by leading scorer Lyle Harris, who finished with 22 points for the Kewpies.

Using a full-court press, Hickman frustrated San Diego by earning turnovers and fouls.
The Cavers scored on six points in the third quarter, and trailed 50-45 with eight minutes to play.

More importantly, Hickman forced Jeremy Tyler into his fourth foul late in the quarter.

The Cavers, off five straight points from McCullom, tied the game at 50 in the early minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Kewpies (3-7) responded by getting to the foul line, but only converted on 3 of 6 attempts to gain a 53-50 lead.

San Diego went on an 8-0 run, with five points coming from McCullom, to regain the lead and never looked back.

The Kewpies came within two points, at 61-59, after Harris drove the lane for a bucket, but that’s as close as they would get.

McCullom hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 12 seconds to ice the victory.

The Grandview High School boys basketball team has a big date it is looking forward to Friday Night.

And girls, don’t get too excited, it’s not with any of you.

Grandview is set to share the basketball court with the San Diego Cavers, and its 6-foot-10 sophomore dunk machine Jeremy Tyler. Grandview punched its ticket to the semifinal round of the Neosho Holiday Basketball Tournament with an 84-74 victory over Siloam Springs Thursday night.

“I really liked our defense tonight,” said Grandview coach Randy Farris. “We tried to speed the game up. It is real hard to get to Siloam Springs because they have that good shooter. We have to understand they are going to score some points. We sped the game up, but we did not play that well offensively. We are trying to play uptempo, and it’s the first year of doing that, and we are starting five juniors.”

That player who scored a bunch of points was Coleson Rakestraw, who finished with a game-high 40 points. Grandview’s Alec Burks did his part to help his team’s cause with 30 points.

“We did a good job of dictating the game,” Farris said. “Except for a three-minute span in the second quarter, we dictated the tempo of the game.”

Grandview is no stranger with San Diego.

Grandview was able to beat San Diego last year in the tournament handing the Cavers a second straight defeat in the winner’s consolation bracket.

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